Demolition Lovers
by itrhymeswithsneak
Summary: Stiles wasn't sure which one would kill him first: rebuilding the Hale house, reforming the pack, or struggling with his new found feelings for Derek.


"You know Derek, since the alphas are gone, there's really no point in you living in the loft anymore" Scott suggested at a pack meeting one day.

It never really crossed Stiles' mind until now. The loft was a precaution to try and hide out against the alphas, although that lasted for a good week. There was really no point in moving out of his house when there was no trouble to be found. Well, besides the fact that the place was falling apart. This made Stiles wonder, how did Derek sleep when it rained? There was practically no roof at all, and Stiles figured that a significant amount of water damage may have occurred inside. It probably just blended in with the fire damage, and general destruction of property caused by the numerous fights that happened there.

Stiles could understand the desire to start fresh, but he thinks leaving behind one of the last pieces of your family may come back to haunt Derek. He had Cora and Peter bunked up in this tiny place, and there's no way he enjoyed having his creepy, serial killer uncle breathing down his neck all day. Peter was declared missing, assumed dead, and there's not much someone in hiding can do besides sit inside all day. Stiles just had a brilliant idea.

"We are totally gonna go home-makeover over on your house dude." Stiles exclaimed. "Werewolf edition!" Stiles added randomly. The only response he received was a confused look from Scott, an attempt to hold in a laugh by Isaac, and the typical scowl Derek gave him. He's lucky Cora and Peter were off training in the woods right now, he would not have liked their reactions.

"Stiles, do I even want to hear the rest of this plan?" Derek asked grudgingly.

"Um, how could you not? We all know that I have the best plans out of everyone here. It makes up for the total lack of growing hair all over my body." Stiles replied.

"Come on Derek, I totally want to hear this one." Isaac added.

The only reply they got was a grunt and Derek putting his head in his hands.

"Hey, you can blame Scott for bringing this one up." Stiles said as he gave Scott the biggest smile he could make. Scott still had the confused look on his face. "Well okay, here it goes. Since there's no more alphas or crazy exes to worry about, no offense, I think you should go back to the house. I know it's in no condition now, but why not put your superhuman posse to work!"

"Let me get this straight. You want me to remodel my house with three teenagers, my little sister, and a uncle who can hardly stand being in my pack?" Derek countered.

"Well obviously there will be others helping. I'm picturing Isaac trying to fix the plumbing right now, the mental image is glorious." Stiles joked. The disappointing looks from everyone in the room were totally not what his humor deserved. "Ya know, Derek's grumpy wolf persona is rubbing off on both of you."

"Maybe some of us don't like being volunteered to dedicate their time to build a house." Isaac replied.

"He's right Stiles, I don't think I want to put in that much work, that place is a mess." Scott added.

"Oh stop being such babies! Hard work never hurt anyone. Besides, I just thought it would be nice. Three Hales living in a space like this can probably getting frustrating. And you can't deny that you don't want your home back Derek." Stiles said.

This earned Stiles a look from Derek. To his surprise, it wasn't a look anger. It was more of a curious look, which Stiles found a lot more frightening. After the alpha pack left, things sorta became strained around here. The pack continued to meet and train but Derek felt more distant than before, and that says a lot. Stiles couldn't blame him, his trust was betrayed again in the form of one revenge driven Darach. But that was months ago, and Stiles was getting tired of it.

"I don't think you understand how much work needs to go into this." Derek retorted.

"How hard can it be? I'm totally a closet handyman." Stiles lied. He was the opposite of that, but they didn't need to know.

"You know we can hear your heart right?" Scott said. Crap. Stiles had forgotten about that tiny detail.

"Okay fine, whatever, I can hardly swing a hammer but I can learn. I think it'll be good for you Derek. Good for the pack." Stiles pleaded. This once again earned Stiles that look of curiosity from Derek. He really didn't know what it meant, nor did he want to consider it right now because there are many ways to speculate. "Look, I know this may be time consuming, and take a good chunk out of our wallets, but it'll be totally worth it. Plus, we'll be paying people to do most of the heavy lifting, we'll just be there to lend a helping hand"

Derek had a contemplative look on his face. Stiles was surprised, he didn't think he'd get him to consider it this soon. He was prepared to make an entire speech about pack dynamics and the importance of being in a comfortable environment. Stiles was dead set on getting this to work. He knew it'd make things a lot easier for everyone.

"You're making all the arrangements, and I expect you to be there everyday." Derek declared. Stiles had to contain himself from hugging Derek, because he was pretty sure that would get him seriously hurt.

"Oh my god, yes, you can count on me. Thank you, you will not regret this." Stiles exclaimed. It looked like Isaac and Scott were about to raise protest but a growl from Derek shut them right up. Stiles couldn't help but smile.

"It's late, there's no point in you guys staying here anymore." Derek said, as he stood, shifting his eyes to the door.

Stiles thanked him again and followed Isaac and Scott out the door. He heard Scott mutter something about manipulation and puppy dog eyes which earned him a kick to the back of the leg.

Right before Stiles walked out the door, Derek called out his name. Stiles came to a halt and realized that Isaac nor Scott stopped. He hadn't been alone with Derek in god knows how long. There was no reason to be nervous, but Stiles still felt his heartbeat pick up. He turned around and offered a smile to try and calm his own nerves.

"Yeah, what's up?" Stiles asked.

"What did you mean when you said this would be good for me?" Derek questioned.

He wasn't sure how to respond to that. The look on Derek's face gave nothing away, which frustrated Stiles. He brought his eyes to the floor, unwilling to look at him, for who knows what reason."I just thought that you needed a little piece of your past back. I mean, sometimes I know you want to forget but it's important to hold on to the memories. I don't think anyone should lose a piece of their life like that. It's probably stupid to you, but I know I never wanted to lose my..." Stiles stopped himself. He never brought up his mom, why was he gonna do this with Derek freaking Hale, who Stiles assumed still hated his guts. Stiles shifted his eyes from the floor and forced himself to look at Derek. He look concerned, an unfamiliar softness in his eyes. He broke eye contact shortly after Stiles made it, now with a vulnerable expression. Stiles usually only saw the default scowl Derek had on his face, he was shocked at the way Derek looked right now.

"Hey, Derek look, if you don't want to do this I understand, I know I pry a lot, but I'm just trying to help." Stiles said.

"No, no its okay. Thank you, Stiles." Derek said with absolutely no emotion in his voice. Stiles was getting tired of getting nothing out of this man.

"Alright, good, glad I can help than. Oh right, um I knew this was my idea and everything but I kinda have no idea how to pay for this. Any ideas?"

"I'll cover it. Just call a contractor to figure out how much this is gonna cost. Now go home." Derek said.

"Okay, I'll take care of that tomorrow. See ya later Derek." Stiles said and turned his back to leave. Why did it suddenly feel like he bit off more than he can chew?

* * *

Stiles had never been more wrong in his life. The contractor was able to meet Stiles after school, so he drove to Hale residence as soon as he got out. He knew he was in a world of trouble when the first thing he said was that the place was a mess. That was plainly obvious. The man told Stiles that he would have to call different people for plumbing, electricity, and gas. Stiles would have to take care of that. That alone was going to cost a small fortune. How hard could it be to fix a railing and paint a few walls? He was confident in the packs ability to hold a paint brush and hammer.

He was sure Derek would be okay with it. Although he was skeptical at first at not having professionals do the other work, he did insist on getting someone to do the roof, which was probably the worst part of the house. Stiles thanked the guy as he left and decided to take a look around the place. The outside of the house was pretty bad. Shattered windows, missing shingles, and practically chunks of framework were missing. He started to get a little light headed.

He walked up the front porch which could get by with just a painting. Maybe things were looking up. Of course, as he pushed open the front door, his glimpse of hope was cast away. There was no way he could do this. He wasn't sure he can deal with this right now, so he turned around to leave, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he seen Peter standing on the porch.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Peter laughed, obviously not meaning it.

"Glad to see sneaking up on the innocent is still your favorite hobby." Stiles snapped.

"Oh Stiles, will you ever let that resentment you have go. We're playing for the same team."

"Well maybe I still need some convincing. What are you doing here anyway?" Stiles asked.

Peter walked towards the bench that was on the porch and took a seat. He beckoned Stiles to join him, but he chose to remain standing. To be honest, Stiles had actually grown to forgive Peter. He'd become a pretty useful ally to the pack and Stiles had grown to not completely hate him. He just didn't want Peter to know that. He still think there was work to be done, but it was getting better.

"I'm sorry, last I checked this was my house. I can have you arrested for trespassing you know." Peter said. And people thought Stiles never took anything seriously.

"I don't have time for this, I have to go talk to Derek." Stiles said, as he turned to leave.

"Before you go..." Peter started, making Stiles stop in his tracks. "..what made you start this campaign to renovate. I don't see how it remotely relates to you." Stiles sighed and turned back around.

"Because I wanted to, I don't need to justify myself to you." Stiles answered.

"Well I was just gonna say I think its a great idea. But if you can't get over your petty problems, I may decide that I'm too weak to help. It's been hard trying to get my wolf back." Peter taunted. He was evil.

"Blackmail, why am I not surprised. Fine, I just want the pack to be happy. And I think this is the best place for it to happen. And why do you care so much about motives, isn't this better for you?

"Oh it certainly is, I'm just curious as to your desire to help out the Hales. But if its for the pack, as you say, than I respect your dedication. Although I don't believe that's the only reason."

Stiles was annoyed that Peter was able to figure that out, but there was no way he was gonna tell him that he was doing this to change Derek. He wanted the guy to be happy, learn that he can find someone to trust. He put his entire life into helping out Scott and Isaac, he deserved some kind of payback. But Stiles was completely okay with keeping that to himself.

It wasn't something he was sure anyway else could understand. Stiles could empathize with Derek. He had lost everything, and Stiles knew how much a helping hand meant. Sure, it was a long time ago but, it was still clear to him that Derek had issues. Stiles wasn't trying to play Dr. Phil, he just wanted to show him that not everything was bad, no matter how cheesy that sounded.

"Well you can believe that all you want, that's the truth. Am I free to go now?" Stiles asked.

"One last thing." Peter stood up and walked towards Stiles. "A werewolf can tell a lot by a persons scent, and you've practically wrote me a novel." And with that, Peter smiled, brushed passed Stiles and disappeared into the woods.

What the hell did that mean.

* * *

After his talk with Peter, Stiles wasn't up for going to Derek's to talk to him. He figured he can just text him when he got home. All he wanted was to get home, finish his homework and relax. The end of the school year was coming, so the homework load was definitely getting lighter, which Stiles greatly appreciated.

He pulled into the driveway to see his dad's car wasn't there. He wasn't surprised, he'd been working a lot of hours lately. Stiles believes its because his dad was still adjusting to the existence of werewolves. He thinks his dad feels extra pressure because he's the only one on the force to be prepared for supernatural crime scenes. Stiles couldn't begin to describe the guilt he felt, and his constant explanations to his dad didn't help. He guess his dad was still coping, but he couldn't help feeling responsible.

Stiles made a mental note that he'd have to give his dad a talking to later. He parked his car, and entered the house. He decided to throw a pizza in the oven and sat down on the couch to work on his homework as it cooked. Before he started, he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Derek.

**Hey Derek it's Stiles, I'm not even sure if you have my number. **

Stiles figured that would suffice for now, he wanted to make sure he wasn't crossing any boundaries before he started talking about money. Yikes, he wasn't sure how Derek was gonna react. He had no idea where he got money from, and he sure as hell wasn't going to ask. Within a few minutes, Stiles' phoned buzzed.

_How did it go?_

Stiles knew Derek didn't care about formalities, but he found him self a little upset at not even receiving a simple hello, which Stiles thought was total stupid.

**Uhhh, well, about that. We might be putting in a little effort more than we expected.**

Derek replied almost immediately.

_What do you mean, Stiles?_

Stiles explained in detail the costs and input that the pack was going to put in. He figured it would have been easier to call him, but he didn't know how that would go over with Derek. He didn't think Derek would mind the extra hard labor, but he knew there would be a hard time convincing the pack. He sent the message and went to get the pizza out of the oven.

He came back to the living room with a plate of food and seen that Derek had replied.

_Get the workers out there as soon as possible. We'll do our part when summer vacation starts._

Stiles thought that was a great idea actually. He decided to call the contractor from earlier back and told him that he could start work on the roof as soon as possible. Once that was out of the way, the pack could pretty much take care of the rest. He told Derek that work would begin in two days, and would be finished in three weeks, which is exactly when school ended. Stiles believed that it was too big of a coincidence; he was destined to do this.

He figured that Derek wanted to be a stop to this conversation, but Stiles felt otherwise. He had already gotten this far without being told to go away, maybe he'd test the waters and see how far he could push. Stiles was gonna get himself killed.

**So, are you excited to move back into your old place? I know privacy is a big thing for you and there's no way you get that in a two bedroom loft. **

There was no way Stiles expected a reply, and even if he got one, it would most likely be a threat to leave Derek alone. After a few minutes, which felt like eternity for some strange reason, Stiles got a reply.

_It's not as bad as you think. But I do want to go back. It means a lot to Cora. _

It took Stiles a few minutes before he could actually comprehend what Derek said. They rarely had an conversations that didn't involve the pack or Derek yelling at Stiles. He did not want to screw this up, getting Derek to actually talk was a rarity that must be treated with caution.

**Yeah, I totally get it. I bet it'll be great. You, Cora, and Peter, the Hale family back where they belongs. God, this sounds like the beginning of a sitcom. Especially when you add me, the dorky, but surprisingly attractive neighbor. **

Okay, maybe that wasn't the wisest choice of words, but hey, he wasn't gonna change who he was anyone. Besides, he had a gut feeling that deep down, Derek had a soft spot for Stiles' sense of humor. Than again, Stiles believed everyone had a soft spot for it. How could they not? Stiles train of thought was interrupted by a reply from Derek.

_I can agree with dorky, but I might need some convincing on the attractive part. _

Stiles didn't know if he should be insulted, or proud that he actually got Derek Hale to make a joke. There was no way he was gonna ever delete this text. With a big smile on his face, Stiles began to type a reply when his dad walked into the house. He may have been to preoccupied to even notice that his father arrived home, which led to a awfully humiliating screech let out by Stiles when his dad started talking.

"I'm not even gonna ask what that noise was son. And I also don't want to hear about that smile you have either, the only time I ever see that is when you're talking to Lydia or planning something evil," his dad said as Stiles shot him a dirty look. His dad simply laughed and left the living room.

His dad's comment caused Stiles to rethink what he was typing. What did he mean by that? He did not just compare Stiles feelings towards Lydia to his feelings towards Derek. He didn't even have feelings for Derek. He was just simply relishing in the fact that things were changing, and he was happy. That did not mean he liked him. His dad had no idea what he was talking about.

As for his reply to Derek, he tried to come up with something that would completely stump him. There was no way he was gonna let him get the last laugh.

**From all the shoving against walls and deep stares, I'm convinced you've been attracted to me all this time.**

After sending the text, Stiles started to get a little of nervous. He wasn't sure if this could be considered flirting, and if it was, he might be a world of trouble. He always screwed things up like this, he could never have anything nice. The part that bothered Stiles the most, was that he wish what he said was true.

When he got a reply, he was hesitant to open the message. This was ridiculous, he was acting like a teenage boy who just got a message from his crush. Okay, he may have been a teenage boy but there was no way hell that this guy was his crush. He opened the message and thanked god that no was around to see the way his jaw dropped after he read it.

_Looks like you're finally seeing through my facade. _

Stiles was embarrassed at how quickly his cheeks turned red. Sure, he was sitting in his living room alone, but that was no excuse to get so flustered over this. Derek was just being his normal self; someone who tremendously enjoyed torturing Stiles. And that's exactly what he was doing, even if it was different than his typical growling and shoving.

He replied with a simple oh my god and was kind of relieved when Derek didn't reply. He counted this one as a lose but promised himself that next time, he'd leave Derek flustered. Stiles wasn't sure where any of this was coming from. Stiles wasn't even sure if he could consider Derek and himself friends and now, he was being left red faced and heart racing. He had no idea what this was, but he had to ignore it and move on.

But of course, the world had other plans for Stiles.


End file.
